


Redolence

by glockcourage



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-05 15:52:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11581272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glockcourage/pseuds/glockcourage
Summary: Something happened between Tony and Pepper before Homecoming. It happened after Tony fought Steve and Bucky but well before he was called Tony Stank.





	Redolence

**Redolence**

 

“Is he okay?” A woman demands as soon as she opens the door to Tony Stark’s hospital room.

 

The middle-aged nurse smiles reassuringly at the newly arrived visitor. She knows her or more precisely, she knows of her. “Yes, Mr Stark is. We just gave him something because he can't sleep and it's imperative that he gets some quality rest.”

 

The woman nods, putting in peril her hastily tied knot atop her head. Soft tendrils of red hair trying to escape, the only clue that she isn’t as cool as she wants to appear.

 

The nurse continues jotting down on the patient’s chart while covertly watching the other woman take out something from her bag.

 

Taking out a vial from her bag, the woman then sprays the air with it, once, hesitates then sprays generously twice more.

 

The nurse is about to wonder if she’s about to die from an assassination attempt of Mr. Stark at the hands of one of his many ex-girlfriends when she notices, instead of poison, the air takes on a scent similar to what the other woman is wearing. The room is suddenly suffused with a fragrance quite light and flowery.

 

“It’s just perfume,” the nurse mutters, chiding herself for her wild imagination. True, the patient is a well-known womanizer and that he broke up with his long-time girlfriend. The rumor is because another woman is involved...

 

But so far, Tony Stark has only one visitor. Just this particular ex.

 

The nurse, pauses by the door, watching as Pepper reaches for Tony’s limp hand, then she leaves, closing the door noiselessly.

 

Pepper firmly gripping Tony's hand, sits on the available chair by his bedside. She'll wait until he wakes up.

 

She waits...and waits. The nurse pops by every now and then. Pepper has waited an entire five hours when the nurse admits that the medication they have given Mr. Stark should have worn off an hour ago and that the previous day, when Mr. Stark was brought in, even when his body was battered, he woke up long before the medication should have worn off. But not today, Mr. Stark continues to sleep soundly.

 

Hearing the nurse’s admission, Pepper’s red lips twist in a slight smile. Of course, she already knows that, even asleep, Tony’s recognizes that she's nearby. He once told her that her scent lulls him to sleep. She asked then, how can that be when she only sprayed it on her person in their room just once in the morning. His reply was a shrug and, “Because I love you.”

 

But the smile on Pepper's lips is immediately replaced by a frown. She should have realized sooner…

 

Just two days after they broke up, Tony called her to ask what's the name of her perfume and once she answered, he just ended the call…It hurt at the time, the bottle of her fragrance had sat on her vanity table in their home and he was calling because he didn’t even remember. But then this morning, when she went to Tony’s place to get some clothes for him before heading for the hospital, she discovered in Tony's room, the lingering scent of her fragrance.

 

She can see even before that Tony needs her... but what he doesn't seem to realize is that she needs him too. She needs him _to be okay._

 

And this latest fiasco, fighting the Captain… _Steve_ …his friend, when she didn't learn of it straight from Tony but instead learned of it from the news just like everybody else, she finally realized that distancing herself from Tony is not going protect her from getting hurt. It's just going to put her outside his charmed circle. Sure, she can still look in. She can still know what he's doing to himself at a later date _but_ by taking the safe route, she also takes away her right to be notified. It took a day before she can be here at the hospital because she didn’t know.

 

And not being there immediately when Tony needs her, hurts her too.

 

Since it’s just going to hurt either way, she’s through being mad at Tony. She’s going to reclaim her right to be by his side now…that way she can at least be mad at him and he can have the opportunity to hear why she’s mad at him.

 

He knows that she’s here now and that she plans to stay, genius that he is.

 

“Oh Tony,” she sighs. In reply, he just continues to sleep undisturbed. 

 

It's still going to be an hour or so of waiting on her part but she doesn't care about the time idling away. Tony needs his rest and when he wakes up, she'll be there to lecture him about going on his own and fighting Steve of all people.

 

But she won’t tell him that she can't ever forgive the Captain and his friend—the one they called the Winter Soldier. Two against one… _no wonder_ her baby looks so battered. At least the minor, Peter, according to Happy, is in a better shape and can go home as soon as Tony’s up to it.

 

Passing the time, making plans for her and Tony and in another hour, Pepper finally notices Tony blinking open his eyes.

 

“Hi,” he murmurs softly, his voice hoarse from sleep.

 

“What do you need? Just tell me.” Pepper asks, her phone up, ready to write a list to make him happy.

 

“You,” Tony replies. “Just you.”

 

“Okay.” Pepper nods before leaning down to kiss the occupant on the hospital bed.

 

—o0o—

 

~7 14 17 AF P7 23 17~


End file.
